Talking turkey? Not much to gobble about this spring

He's president of the Spruce Run Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), so Jerry McCusker talks with a lot of turkey hunters. Based on those conversations, he's convinced he's not the only one who had a tough time finding birds this spring.

In fact, as he spoke on Friday (the final day of the spring gobbler season), McCusker hadn't shot one wild turkey. Nor had his 18-year-old son and hunting partner, Cameron.

"I hunt in mainly in the Warren County area," said McCusker, of Phillipsburg. "Turkey hunting is big thing with me and my son. We spend a lot of time together turkey hunting."

This year, that father-and-son time was rarely interrupted by gobblers, unfortunately.

"We didn't have any success this year," said McCusker, who has been turkey hunting for about three decades. "The birds were a little elusive this year. I don't know why."

He said he asked fellow members of his NWTF chapter and gun club in Harmony about their spring gobbler season success. For the most part, he found they also had disappointing gobbler seasons.

"It wasn't just us," McCusker said. "It seemed to be that way all over. I talk to other guys, and they've been telling me the same thing. In areas where we had a lot of birds in the past, there just seemed to be a diminished amount of birds."

He has his theories: Maybe it's because the state Division of Fish and Wildlife and the state Fish and Game Council need to cut back on the number of turkey hunting permits. Maybe it's because there are too many coyotes.

"When we turkey hunt, we run into coyotes a lot because they hear us calling," McCusker said. "We also hunt in Pennsylvania and New York, and we didn't have any success there either. We called in a few birds in Pennsylvania, but something spooked them, too. There are quite a few coyotes around."

The Fish and Game Council, in an effort to increase turkey reproduction, is working to open spring turkey season one week later and to shorten the season by a week. Opening the season later will ease the disruption of clutching hens and reduce illegal hen harvest, according to the council.

Despite the unhappy tales of McCusker and his cronies, NWTF Regional biologist Bob Eriksen said the spring season wasn't terrible in terms of turkey numbers.

"We had a fair hatch in southern Warren and Hunterdon counties in 2008," he said. "It wasn't a great hatch, but it was fair. And we had a fair hatch the year before. Before that, we had a series of six poor hatches. So the numbers are generally down, but overall -- when the numbers are all in -- I think we are going to see a harvest on par with last year."

Eriksen said hunters who had permits for the first week of the season seemed to do fairly well, based on reports from Fish and Wildlife check stations.

"What happened after that is hard to say," he commented. "I spent time in Hunterdon and Warren and encountered a fair number of birds. Not anywhere like it was in 1999 and 2000, but a little better than year or two ago."

McCusker noted the NWTF Spruce Run Chapter's annual Hunting Heritage Banquet and Auction is being held June 6. However, the event will not take place at the Hunterdon Hills Playhouse in Hampton, where it was conducted last year and attracted 288 people. Instead, it will be at the 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Eastonian Holiday Inn Express in Easton, Pa.